10 Principles Etched on Stones

Scripture tells us that in an encounter with the Lord, Moses ascended to a mountain, where he received the 10 Commandments, written on stone by God Himself. In 2nd Corinthians 3, we find that there is a canvas upon which God wishes to write His principles; we see these words written by the Holy Spirit through Paul:
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

We can ask what is written on our hearts - there are all sorts of words and philosophies that we can choose to embrace, but what is important is that we have God's Word, "hidden," as Psalm 119 says, on our hearts.  As we open ourselves up to the Spirit of God, we can discover what He has to teach us. The Word of God can come alive as we allow it to become part of us, as we study and meditate on what He has to say to us.  We can become so dependent on the Spirit to show us how to apply these incredible principles.

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In Exodus chapter 20, we read what have come to be known at the Ten Commandments, and we find the details of their writing in chapter 24, where we can read:
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them."
13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

There was a tangible presence of God upon that mountain, as we read beginning in verse 17:

17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

We find later in the book of Exodus that these tablets were written by "the finger of God."

You may not be familiar with a small city in east Georgia called Elberton. I know it because my father grew up not far from there.  The city has quite a reputation because of its abundance of granite - it is known as the "Granite City" and even the "Granite Capital of the World."

Outside of the city, a structure has been standing since 1980 called the "Georgia Guidestones."  According to Newsweek, "The guide stones were erected on March 22, 1980, but who put them up remains a mystery..." It describes the structure in this way:

...the Guidestones resemble the famous British monument Stonehenge and many have compared the two. Stonehenge, in southwest England, was built in the neolithic period some 5,000 years ago.

WYFF Television out of Greenville, SC, traces the mysterious background of the arrangement of large granite stones:

The Elbert County Chamber lists a man that went by the name of R.C. Christian as being responsible for the monument, saying he represented "a small group of loyal Americans who believe in God."

It was later learned that R.C. Christian was a pseudonym, but only one man involved with the development of the guidestones is said to have been told Christian's real name, in order to move forward with the construction of the monument.

The group that Christian represented, however, wished to remain completely anonymous.

Well, Mr. "Christian" claims to believe in God, but the god in whom he believed was not the one true God, considering the words etched in multiple languages on these large tablets.  But, more about that later.  

The Guidestones are no more, as of last week. Last Thursday, Newsweek reported:

The Georgia Guidestones, a 19-foot mysterious granite monument in the Peach State, was demolished on Thursday for safety reasons, after being damaged in a blast.

An explosion at around 4 a.m. on Thursday reduced one of the stones in Elbert County to rubble. CCTV showed a silver sedan leaving the scene after the explosion, and the police are investigating.

No motive has been identified and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said "unknown individuals" caused the vandalism.

Leo Hohmann describes the stones like this:

This monument has been a center of controversy since it was first erected 42 years ago because it presents a set of ten “guidelines” describing a New World Order with a vastly smaller global population living “in perpetual balance with nature.”

He goes on to relate: "The guidestones sit on a rural site 7 miles north of Elberton on Georgia Highway 77 and are often referred to as an American Stonehenge, although some in the Christian community have labeled it the 'Devil’s Monument,' or a 'monument to Satan' and his minions’ obsession with eugenics, which is seen today in so many of the policies coming out of the World Economic Forum and United Nations."

The Guidestones had attracted the attention of a marginal Georgia gubernatorial candidate, who had vowed, if elected, to issue an Executive Order to destroy the stones.  She has distanced herself from this incident.

When I share with you these 10 "principles" written on these large "tablets" - sound familiar, you can readily see the concern over what was written, and the worldview that is, unfortunately, all-too prevalent today.  Newsweek listed them:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the Earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

The watchword here is control on a global scale:  principles we find include population control, with a maximum of 500 million people.  There is a theme of "guided" reproduction - tie the two together and you find a so-called "reproductive rights" agenda that can reduce the population; abortion has certainly done that.  A common language, the ruling of faith with "tempered reason," a "world court," and the admonition to "Leave room for nature."   

These are some popular themes that are part of a secularist perspective - the gods of this world taking cues from the god of this world.  We surrender control of our lives as Christians to the One True God, not from the globalist "gods" or "elites" who want unlimited power and control under the guise of doing what is best for the planet.  

Interestingly enough, there were stones that contained ten principles that were given to a man named Moses thousands of years ago - those statements are powerful and applicable for us today. The 10 Commandments remind us that there is one Lawgiver, and He empowers us to live by the power of the Spirit.  We cannot conform to the phrases of the 10 Commandments through human strength - that is why we need a Savior, who draws us into a relationship with Him and teaches and empowers us to live according to His ways. 

The Georgia Guidestones may be gone, but its worldview remains.  And, it doesn't square with Scripture.  God's Word gives us the direction in order to live in this world and to reject teaching that doesn't line up with His principles.